9,000 Mumbaiites undergo free Covid-19 tests at civic body centres in 5 days

Around 9,000 Mumbaiites got themselves tested at the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s (BMC) 244 free Covid-19 testing centres in the past five days. Of these,

Around 9,000 Mumbaiites got themselves tested at the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s (BMC) 244 free Covid-19 testing centres in the past five days. Of these, only 375 people (4.2%) were found positive for Covid-19.

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The 244 centres have pushed Covid-19 testing in the city to 14,000-16,000 tests each day in November from 6,000-7,000 in July. On November 1, BMC had announced to start free testing centres across the 24 administrative wards.

Citizens who develop Covid-like symptoms such as cough, cold, fever, difficulties in breathing and pneumonia, or have recently come in contact with a coronavirus patient can approach any of these 244 facilities and get themselves tested for the virus free of cost.

Majority of the tests conducted at these new locations were conducted through rapid antigen kits.

Additional municipal commissioner Suresh Kakani said, “We have received a good response to our testing facilities and each ward has a minimum of six-seven of these centres. We will keep monitoring these facilities and find out the locations which receive high response. Accordingly, we will create more awareness and deploy more of our teams.”

Since September, the BMC has been conducting between 8,000 and 15,000 Covid-19 tests every day, of which 30-40% are rapid antigen tests. The civic body has now set up a target to conduct up to 24,000 Covid-19 tests daily.

Meanwhile on Sunday, Mumbai reported 1,003 Covid-19 cases, which took the tally to 264,545. Of these, 17,603 are active cases, while 235,776 patients have recovered. The toll surged to 10,445 after 23 deaths were reported on Sunday. The recovery rate stands at 90% and the case fatality rate is 3.9%. The positivity rate has slipped from 18.15% in September to 16.34% in November. City’s doubling rate now stands at 241 days. On Sunday, Dharavi, one of the former hot spots, reported 10 Covid-19 cases, taking its tally to 3,599.